Singapore’s overall unemployment rate in August climbs past global financial crisis’ high

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s overall unemployment rate rose to 3.4% in August, surpassing the peak of 3.3% recorded in September 2009 during the global financial crisis.

But the August rate is lower than the highest overall unemployment rate of 6.4 percent, recorded in September 2003 during the SARS outbreak.

The latest report on the employment situation from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Wednesday (October 7) showed that the overall unemployment rate for August rose 0.4 percentage points from July.

MOM said it has started tracking the unemployment rate on a monthly basis to “monitor the employment situation more closely.” Unemployment rates are generally published quarterly.

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The unemployment rate for citizens rose to 4.6 percent in August, 0.3 percentage points more than in July. It is lower than the 4.9% registered in September 2009.

The unemployment rate for residents – citizens and permanent residents – rose to 4.5% in August from 4.1% in July, but remained below the 4.9% recorded in September 2009.

“We note that while monthly unemployment rates have thus far generally remained lower than past recessive highs, they have been gradually increasing,” the ministry said in a press release.

“It remains to be seen whether unemployment will rise more rapidly in the coming months,” he added.

“We cannot say at this time whether in the next few months the unemployment rate will increase at a faster rate or remain more or less the same,” said Human Resources Minister Josephine Teo.

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Speaking to reporters on a visit to the Samwoh Group on Wednesday, he added: “But nonetheless, we are watching very closely.”

Despite the “slight spike” in the unemployment rate, jobs are still available in this same period, he noted.

“We also saw the ability to gather more opportunities. And the vast majority of these opportunities that have been gathered remain, still, in terms of jobs. And of the roughly 60,000 long-term jobs available, a large part still comes from the private sector. “

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) estimates that combined budgets will prevent Singapore’s economy from contracting by an additional 5.6 percent of GDP in 2020 and by 4.8 percent in 2021, MOM said in its report.

“Our economic support measures will also offset part of the increase in the unemployment rate for residents by approximately 1.7 percent this year,” the ministry added.

“This could mean that some 155,000 jobs were saved in these two years, although we will continue to see job losses overall.”